Two suspects arrested in fruitless lottery ticket theft

Tehama County deputies arrested two people Monday after a display case containing lottery tickets was stolen from a Los Molinos market.

Deputies said they arrested Francisco Javier Palos Jr., 30, of Redding and Donna Jayne Otlowski, 36, of Red Bluff after a witness followed their car and booked them into jail on suspicion of stealing $1,283 in lottery tickets from Crosslands Market about 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Thefts of lottery tickets occur occasionally, according to deputy Rob Bakken of the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office.

“I would say” we get lottery ticket thefts “once, maybe twice a year,” Bakken said. “A lot of time they will scratch them and try to redeem the winners.”

However, such thefts are usually fruitless. Once stolen, “the store is able to deactivate that lot of tickets – and render them worthless,” Bakken said. “Once they deactivate, all you have is paper.”

About 5:30 p.m. Monday, the sheriff's office received a call from a store clerk saying a man in a black Saturn SUV took a display box containing lottery tickets from the store. The clerk said the vehicle was last seen going north on Highway 99.

Donna Otlowski(Photo: Tehama County Jail)

A witness who followed the vehicle also called 911 and said the car turned east onto 7th Avenue and south on Shasta Boulevard where a woman got out of the car. The witness said the vehicle got back on northbound Highway 99.

A Tehama County District Attorney's investigator who was in the area conducted a traffic stop. Palos and the lottery tickets were in the SUV when deputies arrived, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies later found Otlowski, who was linked to the theft through surveillance video and items found in the car. Deputies said the video showed the woman had backed up the car so she could quickly drive away after Palos ran out of the market.

Otlowski was being held in Tehama County Jail in lieu of $106,000 on suspicion of burglary, shoplifting and possessing a controlled substance. Palos was being held in lieu of $100,000 on suspicion of burglary.